News Release

Scripps Research Institute Professor Wins Russian ‘Mega-Grant’ Award

La Jolla, CA – June 27, 2013 - Valery Fokin, professor in the Department of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), has been awarded a prestigious grant from the Russian government for $3.75 million over three years, with the possibility of a two-year renewal. The grant will fund the establishment of a laboratory at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

This highly competitive program—called "mega-grants" in Russia—is aimed at recruiting the expertise of leading scientists in a variety of fields, ranging from history and archeology to industrial biotechnology, to reinvigorate Russian science. Among the 42 winners are researchers from countries including USA, Russia, Germany, Japan, France, Spain, Israel, Australia and Israel.

"Doing research on two continents is a challenging but rewarding endeavor," says Fokin. "With the support of this grant and administrations of both institutes, I am hoping that our work will benefit from synergies and will result in mutually beneficial collaborations between Scripps and Russian scientists and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, leading to new technologies and products in both nations."

Fokin will assemble a team of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff scientists to work at the newly established laboratory on the development of new chemical transformations and their use in studies of biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of inflammation, cancer and immune diseases.

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists—including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academy of Science, Engineering or Medicine—work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see www.scripps.edu.

About MIPT

The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (http://www.phystech.edu) is the leading institute of higher education of the Russian Federation, training highly qualified specialists in various areas of modern science and technology. The institute has a rich history. Its founders and early staff members were Nobel Prize winners P.L Kapitsa, N.N Semenov and L.D. Landau. Nobel Prize winners are among its graduates as well. From the beginning, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology has used a unique system for training specialists, known commonly as the “Fiztech System,” which combines fundamental education, engineering disciplines and student scientific research. Many Fiztech professors are leading scientists in Russia, among which are more than 80 academics and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.